BATMAN RETURNS
A film review by Kreme
Copyright 1992 by Lewis Butler
Summary: Batman is back, and some of the style seems to have been
washed out. Overall a fun movie with a comic-book plot
and a wonderfully endearing performance from Michelle
Pfeiffer and a good, but silly, performance from Danny
DeVito. A +1 (-4 to +4)
The Bat is back, and this time we get to see his nemesis, The Penguin and the provocative Catwoman. This movie will disappoint many people who are hoping to see more of the same movie magic that made BATMAN so enjoyable. While the plot has regressed remarkably to a cartoonish-comic-bookish level, the sexual innuendo/humor has escalated to a purely adult level. The movie sends mixed signals throughout and never fails to miss even the most obvious sexual joke. Too bad, if the movie had stayed mostly adult as BATMAN did it would have been much better; even if it had been purely comic-book it would have been marginally better. As it is it tries to straddle the fence between pleasing the 13 year-olds and pleasing the parents with them. I think it misses both.
Understand me, this is not a *poor* movie. Not at all, but it is not BATMAN, and it is not even a particularly worthy successor. While BATMAN had a undeniable forcefulness to it and a tightness to the plot and dialog, this film slowly meanders through an ambling plotline to a predictable end. Much of the dialog is spend on jokes, but without the same humor or strength of BATMAN. BATMAN RETURNS is trying to show-off.
Once again the focus of the movie is not Batman himself, but rather one of the villains. In this movie it is Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman who steals center stage. Her performance is wonderfully alive, down to the soft throaty growl in her voice and the unassuming "Meow." She is everything a cat-woman should be, even slightly naughty (though she tends to sharpen her claws on people instead of furniture). Selina Kyle is a perfect foil to Bruce Wayne, and as readers of the Batman comics have know for years, Catwoman is in many ways Batman's perfect "villain."
Danny DeVito is quite good as the Penguin, but I felt that the screenplay called for a character that was far too much a "freak" and far too comical. There is none of the sheer evil of Nicholson's Joker, just a comical silliness that DeVito never quite manages to shed, even when he is trying to be the bad guy. The ridiculous costume hinders him and reduces the character to a rather uninteresting goon.
The plot is choppier than BATMAN. Much of the movie is a bit confused. We don't really *know* who the "Red Triangle Gang" is: children that were stolen or performers from the circus? There is a general feeling of slight discontinuity throughout the film. In short the editing was not nearly as good as BATMAN.
But the movie is enjoyable anyway. The sets are great, though we never have time to really examine them, and there is no wonderful architectural focal point like the church in BATMAN. Instead there is a Christmas Tree. Oh well.
Elfman's score is wonderful and manages to lift the movie during some of its weaker moments. The supporting cast is mostly very good, though I though the actor playing Max's (Christopher Walken) son could have done better with the three or four lines he had.
If you are a bat-freak you will see this movie no matter what, and there are enough bat-freaks out there that this movie will certainly be successful, though it will play in comparison to the first. If they learn from their mistakes in this film and remember the first, the third should be something wonderful. (Anyone doubt there will be a third?)
For the less bat-fixated among you, the movie is worth seeing for anyone who really liked the first movie and would like to see a great performance from Michelle Pfeiffer.
If you disliked the first movie you will probably like this one even less.
Oh yes, and one more thing, there is quite a bit more gratuitous violence and mayhem in BATMAN RETURNS than in BATMAN.
-- kreme@nyx.cs.du.edu kreme@#22 (FV3 Net) [303/722-2009] Vox
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